Steve Asmussen Plans Appeal Of KHRC’s 30-Day Suspension Over 2018 Ace Positives by Paulick Report Staff|01.30.2023|5:08pm Steve Asmussen Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen plans to appeal the 30-day suspension handed down last week by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, attorney Clark Brewster told the Daily Racing Form this week. Brewster said Asmussen will file a petition in Franklin Circuit Court in Kentucky, arguing that he followed well-known standards for oral administration of the sedative Acepromazine and that the original hearing officer applied the “wrong burden of proof” in the case. “There are a number of issues here that I think are important to the industry and horsemen in general,” Brewster told DRF. The case dates back to 2018, when two Asmussen trainees showed post-race positives for metabolites of the sedative Acepromazine: Thousand Percent after winning the second race at Churchill Downs on June 28, 2018; and Boldor after winning the sixth race at Keeneland on Oct. 25, 2018. In late 2019, following a formal hearing before the stewards, the KHRC issued Asmussen a 30-day suspension and total $3,500 fine. An additional 30 days were stayed due to mitigating circumstances (number of violations due to overall record), pending no further violations for 365 days. Asmussen subsequently appealed. A hearing on that appeal was conducted in August last year by hearing officer Jim Howard, who left the Public Protection Cabinet before making a recommendation. Hearing officer Eden Davis Stephens succeeded Howard, and based on the existing record she recommended a 30-day suspension for Asmussen in October of 2022. Last week's KHRC decision to approve the hearing officer's recommendation did not come with a set date for Asmussen to serve the 30 days; the KHRC order did note that the action could be appealed in civil court. Read more at the Daily Racing Form.